Guest Voice of Pamela Oduho: I thank Erie schools for educating me

By PAMELA ODUHOContributing writer

February 10, 2014 12:01 AM

By PAMELA ODUHOContributing writer

February 10, 2014 12:01 AM

YOU CAN HELPThe Otuho-Speaking Community of North America will hold a cultural event and fundraiser at the Erie Art Museum on April 19 from 4 to 6 p.m. Money raised will be used to ship a storage container of books and school supplies to help 5,000 children in South Sudan.For more information, visit www.otuhogroup.org/home.aspx.

When I was asked to write about the importance of education, the task seemed daunting at first. Then I began to reflect on the 18 years of growth I had relished while living in an environment that enabled me to appreciate the importance and the feeling of being an educated "New American."

Even as a child, I knew that education was and still is not as readily accessible to children in many parts of the world as it is in this country. Much of my remembrance and recollection of what it means to be educated is associated with living with constant fear, terror, upheaval and civil unrest in a country where schoolchildren became the prime target to halt the future and eliminate development of a nation.

Fortunately, my family and I were one of many who fled South Sudan's civil unrest in the early '90s, primarily to seek free education above all things.

My father once told me, "I brought you to this country (the United States) to be educated children and nothing more." Thus, this ideal has stuck with me throughout my childhood and into my adult life, and in many ways it became the driving factor to become successful in life.

So why is education essential? Education to me is not only the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world, as the late Nelson Mandela once said, but it is also a self-enlightening process that develops a child into a responsible citizen.

Education is a sacrifice for a better tomorrow; my parents made an unselfish act in uprooting us from unsafe ground in an effort to provide us with a safe educational environment.

Education provides us with knowledge about the world as it also aids progress in a nation.

Education paves the way to a successful career as it enriches people's understanding of themselves.

Education, above all, builds character, which leads to enlightenment. Every single one of us has something that we are good at. Every single one of us has something to offer. Therefore, we have a responsibility to ourselves to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Erie's public schools just celebrated a week of pride in public education. But we must also remember the unprivileged communities around the world. It is apparent in my birth country and among fellow young Southern Sudanese children that they have an appetite to learn.

My appreciation for my foundation in education is not solely dedicated to my parents, but also to the math, science and English teachers, mentors, advisers and Erie School Board members who have all played an essential role in educationally developing children within the Erie public schools.

As graduates of Erie's public schools, we appreciate and thank them for their ability to recognize the talent of their students and challenging them to further their studies.

As a product of both Catholic education and an alumnus of East High School, I am proud to see public education being praised. There is just more that a student can get out of a public education than in a private or Catholic education system: a real world experience of surrounding oneself with members of a diverse community.

For the most part, this is one of the reasons I independently decided to change my educational career. I moved out of a Catholic elementary and middle school into that of a public high school education system so that I, too, would have the opportunity to surround and interact with students of diverse cultures.

I wish I had the same opportunities that exist for today's public school students, such as access to a full scholarship through a partnership with Gannon University, as well as rigorous prep courses for those seeking to attend higher education or any postsecondary education.

I would never trade my experiences and friendships developed at East High School. I am forever an East High Warrior.

I am pleased to know that we, part of the community of public education, are moving on the right path, because public education is, indeed, the key to a community's future.

Last week, all week long, I celebrated my public education through my passion and commitment to community organizations involved in growing educated generations for years to come in Erie and among South Sudanese youths.

I am a member of NACO (pronounced na-cho), with stands for the Otuho-Speaking Community of North America, made up of Diaspora from South Sudan. We have dedicated ourselves to helping the Sudanese community in Erie and back in South Sudan to become self-sufficient through the means of educating a child, one at a time.

PAMELA ODUHO, formerly of Erie, lives in Pittsburgh. She earned a bachelor of science degree in marketing and hotel management from Pennsylvania State University's Smeal College of Business and School of Hospitality Management (pamela.oduho@gmail.com).